Cash-strapped Denel ‘another SAA’, unions warn
State-owned arms manufacturer Denel warned on Tuesday that its failure to pay salaries for May could repeat itself in June and July.
Denel has become the latest company to tell employees that there are no funds for salaries amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Trade union Solidarity says it was told in a meeting with Denel on Monday that it would not be able to pay employees’ salaries at the end of May.
Solidarity's Dirk Hermann says the current lockdown measures are aggravating the already precarious situation at Denel.
"Orders to the value of R101 million cannot be delivered at present because export permits are not being issued. Those are exactly the type of orders that determine whether people can be paid salaries or not.”
Hermann says the current lockdown regulations should be terminated to allow businesses such as Denel to generate an income and avoid reliance on bailouts from the state.
"There is no need to make a choice between work and health, all businesses can open their doors and allow workers to start working without compromising their health. Many people are losing income, and companies and businesses are suffering huge losses with catastrophic consequences for the economy.”
Meanwhile, The Union Association of South Africa (UASA) has called on Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan to assist the employees of Denel by showing the same “fighting spirit” he does in the battle for SAA.
"State-owned enterprise Denel is, again, in no position to pay its employees at the end of May with clear indications that it won’t be able to do so at the end of June and July either. Denel has now become another SAA, seeking continued financial bail-outs with no possibility of it ever becoming a sustainable business again," the union said in a statement on Tuesday.
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